THIS WEEK'S ISSUE / Strike Back at BART / 24/7 carpools on all bridges

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, September 2, 2001

Editor -- The threat of a BART strike underscores the need to provide 24/7 carpool lanes on Bay Area bridges. Providing carpool lanes and toll relief on a 24/7 basis will achieve considerable traffic relief, particularly on weekends. It also would be an effective and relatively inexpensive policy tool for traffic congestion mitigation.

Federal monies were available for traffic congestion mitigation. This source may still be available to offset lost tolls.

If BART is struck, the San Mateo Bridge and Bay Bridge (at a minimum) should have tolls waived for carpools on a 24/7 basis. Doing so would reduce the congestion and delays that will occur. The 24/7 bridge carpool lanes will also demonstrate to the MTC that such a policy should be in place on all the bridges. Weekend traffic is often nearly as onerous as the weekday commute.

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ARTHUR C. LAKE

Walnut Creek

RESTORE RICHMOND'S FERRY

Editor -- Here's a unique solutions, one that's been pressed into service in emergencies before, and could be mobilized quickly again . . . water taxis!

Once when the Richmond ferry couldn't make it due to mechanical problems or whatnot, a water taxi was sent to pickup commuters. While not glamorous or quite as luxurious as, oh, say, one of Golden Gate ferry's nice fleet, it got the job done and in the same amount of time.

And there is a perfectly good passenger terminal with about 450 parking spaces sitting right there at Terminal 2, where the city of Richmond and the former ferry operator spent about $400,000 to develop it. It's just going begging.

In other words, bring back the Richmond ferry! This transit crisis ought to clearly illustrate why we need it more than ever!

KAREN DORANTES

Editor -- The agency with unquestionably the biggest impact would be AC Transit. Personally, I think AC should run express buses from all BART stations directly to the city. AC should plan on a long strike and MTC should divert BART funds to pay for this express service.

MICHAEL A. PAUL

San Leandro

EXPRESS BUSES EVERYWHERE

Editor -- Since most of the people that take BART are from locations all over the East Bay and Peninsula, we need more express buses! Instead of one bus every 15 minutes. Have two buses run every 10 minutes. Hire temporary bus drivers until the strike ends. We're not talking brain surgery.

MICHELLE MOORE

Pacifica

BICYCLE COMMUTING

Editor -- I say this: Buy a lot of bicycles. Biking over the bridge is going to be much faster than driving if BART goes down.

SHAUN CASE

San Francisco

HOW ABOUT TIME OFF?

Editor -- The roads will be horrible, buses will be full, and we can't bike or walk across the Bay Bridge. How about they help us get the days off work?